Coal Porter, Left Hand, and St. Peter's Old Style
Welcome back to another edition of Drinking Round the World. Today, we're trying out porters. Our journeys bring us two from the US and one from jolly old England. Let's look at tonight's samplers...
Coal Porter
Country: USA (Maine)
Left Hand Blackjack Porter
Country: USA (Colorado)
St. Peter's Old Style Porter
Country: England
First up, we have the Coal Porter from Maine. When I think beer, Maine isn't the first place to come to mind. But we keep our minds, and our tastebuds, open here. Besides, Ashlynne tried to drag me to a movie about Cole Porter once so maybe she'll like it based on the celebrity value. Let's see how it rates.
Fish: This is a damn good beer. Nuff said. 8 pints from me.
Gryphon: Thanks for giving me a meaty analysis of that one Fish. Should be fun to write up your part... This is a really good beer. Perhaps I've been too hard on the northern states all this time. Great bitter flavor. Really strong. Just like I like them. I'll go with 8 pints as well.
Tserof: I don't care for it. All I get is bite. No real flavor beyond the bite. I'll give it 2 pints.
Gryphon: You won't be wanting that one then. Hand it over, I'll drink it.
I didn't say I wouldn't drink it. I just said I didn't care for it...
Mad Mike: Smooth. Good flavor to me. No bad aftertaste. Tserof, you have screwed up taste buds. Plenty of flavor there. 7 pints from me.
Rusty: I get kind of a grainy aftertaste. It's not bad though. Maybe I still taste the Sierra Nevada... 6.5 pints here.
The Woodchuckers
Ashlynne: I'm not sure how to describe this it tastes so bad. Just bad. Yech. Bad bad. 2 Bud Lites from me. *Editor's note: So much for the celebrity factor...*
Jalera: Ugh. I'm with Ash. Bad taste. Too bitter. I tried it twice and it's worse the second time. How do you drink this stuff? 2 Bud Lites here too.
Final Tally
Drinkers' Average: 6.3
Woodchuckers' Average: -2
Second, we have Left Hand Blackjack Porter. I've seen the Left Hand Milk Stout advertised at the Flying Saucer but I've never gotten it. Should be interesting.
Fish: Very smooth. No aftertaste at all. Good beer. I'll give it 7 pints.
Gryphon: Wow. That's good. Really nice flavor and no real aftertaste. Good color. All around good beer. I'm going to have to look up more of their stuff. 7 pints here too.
Tserof: Now this is more like it. It's bitter, but there's some sweetness there also. Much better than the last one. Another 7 pints here.
Mad Mike: Just a hint of sweet taste along with the bitter. It's really nice. 7.5 from me, just to be different.
Rusty: Really smooth flavor for a bitter beer. A lot less aftertaste than the Coal Porter. 7.5 pints from me as well.
The Woodchuckers
Ashlynne: It's not as bad as the last one. It's not good, mind you, but not as bad as the Coal Porter. I suppose that's worth 1 pint.
Jalera: Yech. Bad beer. Bad beer. But Ash is right. Not as bad as the Coal Porter. 1 from me as well.
Final Tally
Drinkers' Average: 7.2
Woodchuckers' Average: 1
Our final beer of the night is one I'm really looking forward to. St. Peter's Old Style Porter. We tried the St. Peter's Stout not long ago and were floored by it so there are high expectations from this one. Once again it should be noted that the girls (and some of the guys) were quite taken with the gorgeous bottle it comes in. But the final proof isn't in bottle art, it's in tasting.
Fish: It's a good beer I guess, but I don't care for it for some reason. It's got some molasses flavor or something that I'm not caring for too much. 5 pints from me. Technically good, but not my thing.
Gryphon: Wow. We have a winner. Very strong. Excellent beer. Just a wonderful flavor. 8.5 pints from me.
Tserof: This one's mine. Great beer. No, seriously. I'm keeping this. *a scuffle ensues to get Tserof to let the other tasters try the beer. At $5 a bottle, we had to share one* 9 from me. Great beer.
Mad Mike: It's a little strong. I'm definitely getting the molasses flavor that Fish is talking about. I think this might be Triple Bock done right. This is what it was before the burned it, threw dirt on it, and peed in it. 6 pints.
Rusty: I get a licorice flavor. It's too thick for me. Brings back bad sense memories of the Triple Bock. Just when I'd almost gotten over it too. Back to therapy... 4 pints from me.
The Woodchuckers
Ashlynne: Still not as bad as the first one. Not good though. Too strong. 1 pint.
Jalera: Ugh!!! That's awful. 9 Bud Lites worth of awful, and only that because Triple Bock is bad enough to deserve to keep 10 as its own category. Awful.
Final Tally
Drinkers' Average: 6.5
Woodchuckers' Average: -4
That's all for this week. Join us next week when we come to you on location from the Flying Saucer in Nashville.
Coal Porter
Country: USA (Maine)
Left Hand Blackjack Porter
Country: USA (Colorado)
St. Peter's Old Style Porter
Country: England
First up, we have the Coal Porter from Maine. When I think beer, Maine isn't the first place to come to mind. But we keep our minds, and our tastebuds, open here. Besides, Ashlynne tried to drag me to a movie about Cole Porter once so maybe she'll like it based on the celebrity value. Let's see how it rates.
Fish: This is a damn good beer. Nuff said. 8 pints from me.
Gryphon: Thanks for giving me a meaty analysis of that one Fish. Should be fun to write up your part... This is a really good beer. Perhaps I've been too hard on the northern states all this time. Great bitter flavor. Really strong. Just like I like them. I'll go with 8 pints as well.
Tserof: I don't care for it. All I get is bite. No real flavor beyond the bite. I'll give it 2 pints.
Gryphon: You won't be wanting that one then. Hand it over, I'll drink it.
I didn't say I wouldn't drink it. I just said I didn't care for it...
Mad Mike: Smooth. Good flavor to me. No bad aftertaste. Tserof, you have screwed up taste buds. Plenty of flavor there. 7 pints from me.
Rusty: I get kind of a grainy aftertaste. It's not bad though. Maybe I still taste the Sierra Nevada... 6.5 pints here.
The Woodchuckers
Ashlynne: I'm not sure how to describe this it tastes so bad. Just bad. Yech. Bad bad. 2 Bud Lites from me. *Editor's note: So much for the celebrity factor...*
Jalera: Ugh. I'm with Ash. Bad taste. Too bitter. I tried it twice and it's worse the second time. How do you drink this stuff? 2 Bud Lites here too.
Final Tally
Drinkers' Average: 6.3
Woodchuckers' Average: -2
Second, we have Left Hand Blackjack Porter. I've seen the Left Hand Milk Stout advertised at the Flying Saucer but I've never gotten it. Should be interesting.
Fish: Very smooth. No aftertaste at all. Good beer. I'll give it 7 pints.
Gryphon: Wow. That's good. Really nice flavor and no real aftertaste. Good color. All around good beer. I'm going to have to look up more of their stuff. 7 pints here too.
Tserof: Now this is more like it. It's bitter, but there's some sweetness there also. Much better than the last one. Another 7 pints here.
Mad Mike: Just a hint of sweet taste along with the bitter. It's really nice. 7.5 from me, just to be different.
Rusty: Really smooth flavor for a bitter beer. A lot less aftertaste than the Coal Porter. 7.5 pints from me as well.
The Woodchuckers
Ashlynne: It's not as bad as the last one. It's not good, mind you, but not as bad as the Coal Porter. I suppose that's worth 1 pint.
Jalera: Yech. Bad beer. Bad beer. But Ash is right. Not as bad as the Coal Porter. 1 from me as well.
Final Tally
Drinkers' Average: 7.2
Woodchuckers' Average: 1
Our final beer of the night is one I'm really looking forward to. St. Peter's Old Style Porter. We tried the St. Peter's Stout not long ago and were floored by it so there are high expectations from this one. Once again it should be noted that the girls (and some of the guys) were quite taken with the gorgeous bottle it comes in. But the final proof isn't in bottle art, it's in tasting.
Fish: It's a good beer I guess, but I don't care for it for some reason. It's got some molasses flavor or something that I'm not caring for too much. 5 pints from me. Technically good, but not my thing.
Gryphon: Wow. We have a winner. Very strong. Excellent beer. Just a wonderful flavor. 8.5 pints from me.
Tserof: This one's mine. Great beer. No, seriously. I'm keeping this. *a scuffle ensues to get Tserof to let the other tasters try the beer. At $5 a bottle, we had to share one* 9 from me. Great beer.
Mad Mike: It's a little strong. I'm definitely getting the molasses flavor that Fish is talking about. I think this might be Triple Bock done right. This is what it was before the burned it, threw dirt on it, and peed in it. 6 pints.
Rusty: I get a licorice flavor. It's too thick for me. Brings back bad sense memories of the Triple Bock. Just when I'd almost gotten over it too. Back to therapy... 4 pints from me.
The Woodchuckers
Ashlynne: Still not as bad as the first one. Not good though. Too strong. 1 pint.
Jalera: Ugh!!! That's awful. 9 Bud Lites worth of awful, and only that because Triple Bock is bad enough to deserve to keep 10 as its own category. Awful.
Final Tally
Drinkers' Average: 6.5
Woodchuckers' Average: -4
That's all for this week. Join us next week when we come to you on location from the Flying Saucer in Nashville.
posted by Gryphon at 9:19 PM
2 Comments:
Sure. You get back to Nashville and we'll do a guest shot. Our normal reviews are Saturday nights but we also meet one Sunday a month at The Flying Saucer in Nashville. 74 beers on tap, 200-some more in bottle. In fact, we just went yesterday. Reviews from that should be up soon.
Damn! You read me mid-edit! I had just deleted my comment to add that I was bummed to see I'd miss the Nashville trip... but you come one Sunday a month, eh? Well well.
I guess it's only fair to repost the original comment, since you've replied to it.
"Ah, see... I didn't catch that the Drinking Around the World link on your other blog was your own project. Okay. I've caught up now. What would you think of a Guest Woodchucker appearance? Hmm? You know, Woodchuck was (briefly a long time ago) my nickname at one point. Of course, I gave it to myself. Long story. I've got to figure out how to send some Red Trolley home to you guys... hmmmm."
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